Holder for life-preservers.



No. 791,765. PATENTED JUNE 6,1905.

W; J. FRENCH.

HOLDER FOR LIFE PRESBRVERS.

APPLIOATION FILED HAR- 2, 1905- UNIT ED STATES Patented Junefi, 1905.

PATENT OFFIC HOLDER FOR LlFE-PRESERVERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 791,765, dated June fi, 1905.

Application filed March 2, 1905. Serial No- 248,115- I To all whom it may concern.-

' Be itknown that I, WILLIAM J. FRENcH, of Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Holders for Life-Preservers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of holders for life-preservers in which the articles are supported between the ceiling-beams of a vessel by means capable of being operated to release the life-preservers and allow them to fall upon the deck.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the under side of my improved rack. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view on line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail.

Heretofore vessels have carried life-preservers placed within strips permanently secured to their ceiling-beams. It has been found that passengers in moments of excitement either could not remove the articles or else tore them in doing so, and in either event the panic arising from accidents has been increased. -Various constructions have been devised contemplating swinging doors or gates arranged between the beams and having the life-preservers freely supported on their inner faces whereby upon operating the mechanism by which the doors were held closed the latter would swing downwardly by gravity and allow the life-preservers to fall upon the deck.

The disadvantages found in such construe tions, however, have been that they either ne cessitated changing the construction of the ceiling-beams or they were so placed with relation to the latter that swinging doors could not be placed between all of the beams, necessarily resulting in a limited supply of lifepreservers. Furthermore, there has been difficulty in placing'the life-preservers within the racks, as it was necessary to place them against the inner face of the door and hold them while the door was being closed, since they were designed to be held freely upon the doors. By my invention these difliculties are obviated.

Referring to the drawings, 1 2 designate the transverse ceiling-beams of a vessel. The doors t are shown extending the full length of the beams and hinged to the latter, as at 5. At its free longitudinal edge each door' is equipped with a locking device 6, secured to its outer face, the bolt 7 being normally extended by a coil-spring 8 into its keeper-plate 9, secured to the outer face of the ceilingbeam. By this arrangement of the locking devices all the beams may be provided with the doors, since the locks and hinges of one door permit of the location and operation of the hinges and locks, respectively, of the adjacent door. Thus each of the spaces intermediate the beams forms a compartment for life-preservers held in place by doors which swing downwardly when released and allow the articles to fall. It is usually desirable that all of the doors be opened simultaneously, and for that purpose I have shown each of the bolts 7 connected by a rope 10 to a rope 12, which may have its free end at any location permitting of its being readily reached in case of necessity. Obviously the doors may be operated separately, if desired. WhileI have shown the doors of the conventional batten type, yet to lessen their weight they may be of any preferred construction, such as largemesh wire. In any event it is desirable to equip the doors with transverse strengthening-bands 13, preferably of strap-iron.

As stated, the doors are designed to extend the full length of the beams, the advantage of such construction being that each compartment holds a large number of life-preservers, while there are few ropes necessary, and consequently slight frictional resistance in operating all the doors. It is essential in such constructions, however, that some means be employed for supporting the life-preservers upon the inner faces of the doors while the latter are open, as when the life-preservers are being placed in their compartments. I have shown a rack 14 on the inner face of each door, extending longitudinally'thereof near its free edge. A convenient manner of providing this rack is by extending the bands 13 through the doors or around the edges thereof and turning their ends upward, as at 15, a bar 16 being arranged transversely of the series 15 and secured thereto at suitable points. This rack, while meeting the requirement stated, will obviously not hinder the lifepreservers from falling from the doors when the latter swing downwardly. I have also shown cords 17 suspended from the beams and designed to be hooked to the doors when the life-preservers are being replaced, so that the doors will be supported at anincline, and this, together with the racks, will enable the life-preservers. to be placed in the compartments without inconvenience.

In addition to the apparentiadvantages of my invention it may be noted that life-pre server racksembodying-the same may be installed iwithou-t changing the constructionof the beams and that the entire ceiling-space of a vessel may be utilized for compartments.

I claim as my invention' 1. In a life-preserver-storage equipment, the combination with the beams, of swinging doors spanning the spaces intermediate adja cent beams, and racks carried by said doors on the inner faces thereof.

2. In a-lifepreserver-storage equipment,

the combination with the beams, of swinging doors spanning the spaces intermediate adjacen-tbeams, said doors having bands extended transversely of their outer faces and around the free longitudinal edges thereof, terminating in a series of upright projections on the inner faces of=said doors, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a life-preserver-storage equipment,

thercombinationuwith the ceiling-beams, of

swinging doors spanning the spaces intermediate adjacent beams, and locking devices for normally holding said doors closed, said devices comprising s'pring-actuated bolts on the outer faces of said doors, and keeper-plates on the lower edges of said beams within the widths thereof, and means forsimultaneously retracting said bolts from said keeper-plates, asand for the purpose stated.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM J. FRENCH. Witnesses:

W. W. ACKERMAN, D. G. THoM-As. 

